A Foreign Mission

W&m Graduate To Work At Camp For Kids In Panama

June 16, 1993|By JOAN MARBLE Daily Press

SHACKLEFORDS — Fresh out of college, William Christopher Milby is putting his business career on hold so he can spend the next two years as a short-term missionary in Panama with the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

``I am doing what God is leading me to do and I feel this is the best way I can serve right now,'' he says.

Milby graduated May 16 from the College of William and Mary with a bachelor's degree in business administration/marketing. At his graduation, he received the John N. Dalton Memorial Award of $750 for volunteer work in college and community organizations.

While in Panama, he will be living in Santa Clara on the Pacific coast of the country. He will be working in a rural area as an assistant to the director of a camp for Panamian children and youth and the children of a number of Americans living in Panama.

The camp operates year around. ``It is religious oriented, similar to a vacation Bible school, with Bible studies, water sports, crafts and classes in things like water safety and first aid.''

Milby, 21, is a member of Poroporone Baptist Church at Shacklefords and has been active in his church and with the Baptist Student Union at William and Mary. He says after volunteering at the Royal Ambassador Camp at Hartfield in Middlesex County last summer, he felt he would like to continue this type of service. ``I felt that I did a good job and was an effective worker and leader.''

The Rev. Ray P. Goude Jr., pastor at Poroporone Church, describes Milby as a dedicated young man. ``He has been active in the life of the church. I feel the Lord is leading him into some type of mission work and Chris is trying very hard to understand what that is, whether it is as a missionary or on a volunteer basis. He has a lot to offer.''

Through the Baptist Student Union at W&M, he worked in a soup kitchen in New York City, with Habitat for Humanity in Kentucky and with a mission ministry in Charleston, S. C. ``Now he wants to try the foreign field,'' Goude says.

A commissioning service for Milby to start him on his way to the mission field was held June 13 at the church.

He decided last fall on a two-year volunteer program. Armed with information from the Baptist Student Union on various types of programs available, he applied to the Foreign Mission Board, listing several options. ``The board matched me up with this program,'' he says.

He completed 16 days of training at the Missionary Learning Center in Rockville, learning about Panama and about living and witnessing in another culture. ``We also made travel plans and found out about the types of innoculations we would need.''

``When I get back, I would like to go into advertising and I think the experience will be helpful to me. I will learn Spanish and since advertising is focusing more on the world economy, that will be a help.

``I am not required to learn Spanish before I start my service but I will be picking it up as I go along.''

A 1989 graduate of York Academy, he is the son of Garland and Dorothy Milby of Shacklefords.